Abstract:
Soap is a cleaning agent that helps to remove dirt and grease from porous surfaces such as
fabrics, clothes, and/or non-porous surface such as metal plastics. Vegetable oils, either
edible or non-edible, are widely used in huge number of applications in industry. In this
thesis work the extraction of oil from castor seeds and its utilization to produce soap has
been conducted. The soap has been produced from castor seeds by using pretreatment of
castor seed, extraction of castor oil, neutralization and saponification methods. The
extraction and refining of castor oil using stage wise equipment is carry out. In this project,
the castor seed oil was extracted at a temperature of 70 and a time of 5 hr. and the oil yield
of 35% was obtained. The saponification parameters used were temperature in the range of
85 to 90
o
C, mixing time in the range of 1.5 to 2 hr. and caustic soda concentration in the
range of 35 to 40 %. The optimized conditions were at a temperature of 85
o
C, mixing ratio
of 1.5 and a concentration NaOH of 35 %. The pH value, Moisture content, TFM, AIM,
FCA and Titrate value were measured for castor soap produced and optimized. The
optimized pH value, moisture content, TFM, AIM, FCA and Titrate value found in all of the
batch studied were 10.7, 20.54, 59.92,1.6, and 0.03 respectively. The preliminary cost
analysis has also done for soap production.
Keywords: Castor seed, Castor oil, Laundry soap, Total fatty matter